I’ve been posting a lot of material about Axel over the last few months. I never saw Axel when I was a kid as I was only 3 when he passed away. The first time I had ever head of Axel was when I saw this TV special on WCCO, Channel 4 back in the […]
February 1953 Clellan rejoins WCCO Radio, and he soon begins as the host of Pop the Question, Card’s Corral, and Spinner Sanctum. This time around, however, he only hosts Spinner Sanctum on Saturday nights. 4 April 1953 Clellan begins as the announcer of the Whoopee John Polka Party on WCCO Radio every Saturday night from […]
Axel launched on August 5, 1954 on WCCO. The photo above is from this very first show. On August 4, the following blurb appeared in the Minneapolis paper. Here is one of the earliest ads to mention the show, from August 12, 1954. And he was soon joined by Mary Davies as Carmen the Nurse […]
These postcards were apparently given out at a special Easter event at Dayton’s department store. I don’t have details, but two cards refer to “Bunny Breakfast” and the third mentions “Bunny Parties.” I believe that is Mary Davies dressed as Bunny, along with Allan Lotsberg as The Magician. Of course, Allan also played Willie Ketchem […]
Don Stolz (center) with Axel and others in 1954 The legendary Don Stolz has passed away at the age of 97. He’s long been known as the owner and creative force behind the Old Log Theater in the Twin Cities, but he his role in children’s TV is why we remember him here. He worked […]
It was hard to grow up in Minnesota and not know Carmen the Nurse. As Carmen, Mary Davies was costar to Clellan Card’s Axel from 1954 until Card passed away in 1966. After that, Mary Davies hosted her own program, Carmen’s Cottage which was paired up with Clancy and Willie on weekday mornings until 1977. […]
Here’s an old kinescope from our friends at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting. Mary Davies sings Sleigh Ride from the 1954 program Country Holiday. Mary would go on to play Carmen the Nurse on WCCO with Axel and Clancy and Willie MARY DAVIES “SLEIGH RIDE” 1954 from Pavek Museum on Vimeo.